This invention relates to devices for lifting and moving disabled persons.
There is a need for a compact device for transferring disabled persons to and from automobiles, seats, wheelchairs, etc. Often this transfer must be accomplished by a single attendant, who may not have the strength to move either the disabled person or a heavy apparatus. When an attempt is made to move a disabled person by a single weak attendant, there is a real danger of injury to the disabled person, the attendant or both. Further, in the common case of a spouse attempting to move a disabled spouse, for routine care or in an emergency, common devices designed for skilled nursing attendants are inappropriate, and sometimes unusable.
Devices exist to aid in the transfer of disabled patients, but they are usually too bulky to be easily moved and used in the home or with a vehicle. These devices may additionally weigh too much to be easily moved by a single attendant. Many of these devices lack the compactness needed to manuever a patient in confined spaces, such as occurs when a disabled person is placed in the passenger seat of a standard automobile.
Such devices are shown in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,011 to Fischer discloses a patient lift for a wheelchair borne patient having a U-shaped base channel mounted on dolly wheels within which a wheel chair can be rolled and having a vertically extending jacking member mounted from the side of this base with a bar and crane to lift the patient in a chained suspended seat. This patent has no rear support and thus no means, other than an optional back sling, to prevent the individual against falling backwards. It also shows an inclined angled lift, a structure at or above the head level of the individual. It does show (FIG. 2) the use of a jack screw device for elevating and lowering the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,410 for a patient lift discloses a fixed seat located on a transverse base member. The seat, once jacked, can be slid back and forth between two extreme positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,572 to Johansson discloses a patient lift having fore and aft bars together with a vertical jacking member. This patent is for the design of the seat and thus there is no disclosure of the support bars labeled D and E or 47 and 48. Johansson teaches the desirability of an additional, optional support strap around a patient to prevent the patient from falling from the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,808 to Woods teaches a transport device having a vertically jacked bar and a sling suspended between two arms on the bar. This device shows a foot pedal jack, items 81, 73, wherein two foot pedals control a hydraulic lifting cylinder to pump it up or to release it.
U.S. Pat. 4,890,853 to Olson discloses a wheelchair walker having a U-shaped base member, a hydraulic post for height adjustment and a U-shaped cloth covered frame as a patient seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,666,212 to Flanders discloses a mobile elevator consisting of an overhead crane supporting a sling sheet.
German Patent 202646 to Lohfink and Wegner shows a sling seat elevated by a rack and pinion rachet with gear lock.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,950 to Weiner discloses a wheeled apparatus for lifting an invalid, having an overhead crane described as a cantilever.
In terms of the specific problem of loading a patient into a vehicle through a swing open door, under a limited overhead, nothing in this art teaches a readily movable unit which lifts a patient without the use of an overhead apparatus, and none of the units show sufficient upper body support to prevent a disabled person from falling over.